I was out and about with some extended family in Golden Gate Park, taking photos here and there with my E-M5. I took this photo of one of my relatives. I saw him there, pulled the camera to my eye and took one, single photo. I was in aperture priority mode, and so let the camera do most of the technical work. Upon reviewing this in-camera-generated JPG I was blown away by how sharp and crisp, and yet natural, everything looked. Look at the mouth area in particular -- how finely detailed the lips and mustache are. Since then I have tried the same exact combination of settings, using various distances and and ambient lighting and nothing seems to come out as so crystal clear. I've tried again and again in the past few days to recreate such detail and I have not been able to, even with a tripod (and IBIS on or off).

The included image has not had any post-processing, other than what the E-M5 has done to create the JPG. (Unfortunately, I had RAW off at the time). This a post of the original file, no zooming or cropping. You can see I was a bit too close for a technically wise use of this lens, as this too-wide of an excuse for a portrait lens has distorted the face a bit. Nevertheless, the clarity remains.

This was taken using the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 at f/3.2, 1/320s, 200 ISO. It was an overcast, yet somewhat bright, late afternoon.

How do I get back to this photographic happy place? What am I unaware of that I did just right?